Google News Has Russian Army Invading Savannah, GA 413
theodp writes "If you checked out Google-wannabe Cuil, you learned that mapping search results to relevant images isn't a trivial task. But even Big Dog Google isn't immune to embarrassing graphics gaffes. Readers of Google News were shown that Russian troops are thrusting into the outskirts of Savannah, Georgia, thanks to the Google Maps graphic accompanying a story about Russian incursions into Georgia — the nation-state in the Caucasus, not the Caucasian-pride-ridden state in the southern US. Yahoo! Answers also had some fun with the GA-Georgia mix-up — 'I live in georegia but i dont see rusia no where not even sound but they says theres tanks should i be worrie' (Google cache) — before a spoilsport deleted the question."
aha! (Score:5, Funny)
Now I understand where all those references to WWIII are coming from, the Russians are invading Georgia :)
Re:aha! (Score:5, Funny)
To paraphrase Carlin:
"Our counter-thrust must be to prick holes in the stiff front erected by the Russians leaders.
We must keep mounting an offensive to penetrate any crack in their defenses.
Let's get on them.
Let's ram through a stiff response so it will be hard for them to get it up.
It'll be hard on us, but we can't lick them by being soft!"
Re:aha! (Score:5, Insightful)
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more power to the necrophiliacs in this world...
Re:aha! (Score:4, Insightful)
You know...this statement strikes me as unusual. If someone had made this type of joke about say, a predominately black city or something being Black-pride-ridden, there'd be calls of racism all over the place with massive outrage, and down-mod points being thrown about like shrapnel.
But, I guess it is ok as long as humor is directed at caucasians or people in the southern US.
Don't get me wrong, I think everyone needs to grow a bit thicker skin, and learn to take a joke, but, it is the double standard of political correctness that 'grinds my gears'.
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That's the same as the assholes who say all Muslims are evil people whole cut someones head off slowly with a dull knife. The truth is there are whites, blacks, hispanics, and muslims who have done evil things. To group all of one group together because of the actions is a small minority is racism.
And I got news for you, there aren't a whole lot of whites (in groups or not) terrorizing and lynching black folk either, it does happen but it's a small minority.
Racism is racism regardless of who you direct it
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There's not a lot of white groups running around anywhere in the US, terrorizing and lynching blacks either my friend.
Lynching went out of practice MANY years ago.
Re:aha! (Score:5, Informative)
Lynching went out of practice MANY years ago.
Yeah, keep up with the times already [google.com].
Re:aha! (Score:5, Informative)
Well, they aren't lynching people, per se. There are plenty of "black groups" terrorizing hispanic immigrants in the region I live in, though, since they tend to carry cash and don't arm themselves. Most of the murders happen in Atlanta, which is blacks terrorizing blacks.
116 whites were arrested for murder in Georgia 2007. 411 non-whites were.
639 whites were arrested for robbery, 3101 non-whites.
Even if half of those arrests resulted in acquittals the figures would be ridiculous.
http://gbi.georgia.gov/00/channel_modifieddate/0,2096,67862954_88103906,00.html [georgia.gov]
And for those of you who are about to blame "racist police officers", don't make an ass of yourself.
http://www.fultonsheriff.org/ [fultonsheriff.org] (that's the county that Atlanta is in)
I don't "hate black people". I'm just sick of watching this, and hearing about non-existent lynchings.
Re:aha! (Score:4, Interesting)
"I don't "hate black people". I'm just sick of watching this, and hearing about non-existent lynchings."
That's a permanent condition, so what I do is live in the country where among other advantages, there is ample personal space. We cannot change the African-American crime situation because we are White, but we can avoid them. White Flight works for me. I don't hate them either, but there is zero reason for me to locate in their neighborhoods. If I were rich and urban I'd live in an economically segregated community. Since I'm middle class and prefer rural spaces I choose them.
This will surely be unpopular on Slashdot, but I argue it is perfectly fine and good to locate away from humans one has no cause to embrace. Thanks to country custom (armed resistance to trespass) and the Second Amendment, in my area African-American crime is largely confined to areas where they live. Whites move away as problems increase, but there is plenty of land.
Nothing can or will be done about minority crime in the US, so the only options for the average person are mobility and self-defense, both of which are equally useful for dealing with non-minority crime.
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So-called 'white flight' is not just rational, it's noble.
(On a site note I hate the term "white flight" because it's inherently racist against whites --- every single race does the same thing (group by like, duh), but when whites do it it's somehow evil.)
Re:aha! (Score:5, Interesting)
I lived in 'the South' for 31 years. I have JUST moved to NYC and have never encountered the racism, even while living in New Orleans, that I have encountered from Blacks towards Whites as I've seen here... and that's just hearing from strangers in the Subway - because they were purposely talking loud enough for every one on the car to hear them.
I have also heard racism come out of the mouths of the white, educated locals as well. Having heard it from them I suspect the racism goes deeper as well.
Overall, my experience here in the last 10 weeks is that New York City has more hate in it than any where I've lived, in the three states I've lived, in 'the South'.
A local radio station was having fun (Score:4, Interesting)
with the Georgia invasion and some local power outages caused by storms. Unfortunately since its not exactly relevant to Americans it seems that we can make light of such a situation. Needless to say they were talking to some people and lead a few along the lines that Georgia had just shot down two Russian planes and while the power was out in lots of places (it wasn't) they were still on the air "for now".
Got to love Russia's timing on the invasion. I guess we could have expected it from the Chinese if it were hosted elsewhere. Time will tell if the Olympics changes how the Chinese treat their neighbors all in the name of obtaining trust based respect on the world stage or if they use the fact that after the Olympics end they can just whack Taiwan or hit Tibet harder.
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Err... it was actually the Georgians deciding to "reclaim" South Ossetia. The Russians are mounting an counter offensive. But one would never expect USians to ever bother with details like this. They would just mess up their neat White Hat / Black Hat world.
Re:A local radio station was having fun (Score:5, Informative)
Re:A local radio station was having fun (Score:5, Informative)
Georgian army shelled a sleeping Tskhinvali, killing more than 1500 people. Without warning.
Let me repeat: Georgia killed more than 1500 civilians by shelling a sleeping city.
That's a war crime.
Then Georgia moved in with tanks and infantry. And _only_ _then_ Russian forces moved in. You just can't blame this conflict on Russia.
Gori was not the target of bombing, a military base and ammo warehouses were targeted. The civilian losses were, probably, a result of a stray bomb or caused by exploding ammo warehouse.
I have friends in Georgia, one of them has been mobilized yesterday. So I watch the situation carefully (I also speak Russian).
Russia _definitely_ overstepped its peacekeeping mandate, sure. But by now nobody cares about it.
Re:A local radio station was having fun (Score:4, Insightful)
A lot of people are asserting a lot of things on Slashdot, but none of us actually knows what's going on. Or who really broke the cease-fire first. If you weren't there, don't be so sure about who did what when. The fog of war makes that impossible for anyone to know, let alone an armchair observer half a world away.
Re:A local radio station was having fun (Score:4, Informative)
What 'fog of war'?
It's all clear - Georgia was waging a 'sniper war' since August 1 causing several deaths.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_South_Ossetia_War#1_August_.E2.80.93_7_August:_escalation_of_hostilities [wikipedia.org]
That was the beginning. And it's clear who shot first.
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The past five years have seen Georgia striving to join NATO, and making great progress in that regard. Such a move is decidedly pro-Western and anti-Russian.
Now, Russia has been infringing on Georgian territory for several months to gauge public and international opinion, and several hundred Russian tanks with similarly large concentrations of troops and air power have been amassing in the meantime.
There were over 1,000 US troops helping train Georgian forces in a very large-scale exercise. The bulk of thos
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Replying to my own post, it is also important to read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_in_South_Ossetia_(2008) [wikipedia.org] which also tells about the Georgian attack on the capital of South Ossetia. As GP said, we don't have enough facts at this extremely early point to decide.
However, modern military actions of this kind cannot happen overnight. They require extensive operational planning and even more extensive logistical planning. It is possible that Russia was waiting for an escalation or valid pretense to cross th
Re:A local radio station was having fun (Score:5, Insightful)
"stopping the ongoing genocide" -- that's Russian talking points, just like US invading Iraq for WMD, when will you stop trusting propaganda of people directly involved in the conflict?
"There were several attacks on Georgia, but strictly on military targets." -- I'm also sure that Georgians keep their tanks in the apartment buildings since I've seen some of them bombed by Russian planes.
Re:A local radio station was having fun (Score:4, Insightful)
Learn history. Georgia ALREADY tried genocide in Ossetia in 1992. What makes you think this time is different?
"I'm also sure that Georgians keep their tanks in the apartment buildings since I've seen some of them bombed by Russian planes."
Nope. You've seen several burning and one destroyed building - a collateral damage from destruction of a nearby military base (with ammo warehouses).
If Russia (God firbid) target civilians then losses would have been 100x higher.
Like about 1500 dead in Tskhinvali after shelling be Georgia.
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Why, from Georgian president of course.
He bragged on Georgian TV that '1500 Ossetian bandits were destroyed'.
Also, that number is fairly reasonable estimate of what you get after shelling a small city.
Re:A local radio station was having fun (Score:5, Insightful)
simple question, the guy claims he speaks russian, has friends locally, so he's going to be a ton better informed than your average ./er, what is *your* claim to authority ?
It would seem to me that someone with an ear on the ground is better informed than someone that simply reads the filtered and processed media, which can't help but always paint russia as the boogey man, even if there is no apparent reason to do so. In this particular case it seems that all the hype paints russia as the aggressor, whereas all the more informed sources paint georgia as the aggressor.
The small fact that the US has been quietly (Or not so quietly) bankrolling georgia's resistance to the russians is mostly ignored by US media (but it's all over the news in Europe).
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
The small fact that the US has been quietly (Or not so quietly) bankrolling georgia's resistance to the russians is mostly ignored by US media (but it's all over the news in Europe).
Quite clearly we are losing the media war in Europe (battle over their hearts and minds, if you like). The two stories I read on the Brittish and German news are extremely pro-Russia (and strongly anti-US). I think this is yet another sign of our declining power in the world, and it makes me sad.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Missing term: De Jure.
Meaning: Ossetia was, as things stood, autonomous from Georgia. However, this was not recognized by anybody that has anything to say about such things (namely, the UN), thus, this whole 'de facto' nonsense means nothing in relation to the Georgian attacks on Ossetia.
Look, afaik, Georgia is doing a lot wrong with this whole Ossetia business, but there's a very distinct line between invading what is, by international law, a runaway province (no matter how 'de facto
Re:A local radio station was having fun (Score:5, Insightful)
What Georgia did _was_ an act of war. They invaded a defacto sovereign nation, violating a 1992 accord, and this was an outright violation of international law. They did so by shelling civilians in Tsinhvali.They didn't just violate some hypothetical border. They literally tried to reclaim the entire breakaway province. Some _1500_ innocents have died as a direct result of this aggression. Russian is not "invading the entire country", it is performing a series of preventative strikes (so beloved by the USA) on military bases to _prevent_ further military actions by Georgia and force Georgia so stop the war. Keep in mind that 90% of all Southern Ossetians hold russian citizenship.
Apparently "preventative strikes" on Iraq, Afghanistan and wherever by the USA is perfectly okay even in the name of the so-called "War on Terrorism", yet when Russian military actually tries to enforce a ceasefire and stop the Georgians from cutting the Ossetians to pieces (again, like the tried in the 90s), you get "omghee teh Russians have invaded teh poowah Georgians". What a joke.
Now, while Southern Ossetia is de-jure part of Georgia, it is defacto a sovereign nation. Remember Kosovo? This isn't any different. Except for that a fragile peace has been actively enforced by Russian peacekeepers for more than 10 years while the three sides (abkhazia, souther ossetia and georgia) were failing to reach a consensus. If there was any hope for the creation of semi-autonomous regions within Georgia - that hope is lost. You don't really think the Ossetians and Abhazians are going to want to be a part of Georgia after this? Georgia literally has 0 diplomatic credits now after repeatedly repudating on and violating international agreements.
Re:A local radio station was having fun (Score:5, Informative)
South Ossetia is not a sovereign nation, de facto or otherwise. It's recognized by no one, not even Russia. It's a province of Georgia with a separatist militia operating. Georgia has every right to put down an internal insurgency, Russia has no right to invade another nation.
This would be like if the United States invaded Russia in 1999 after Putin ordered the army in to put down Maskhadov's separatist forces. Chechnya was de facto sovereign by your standards, having signed a peace treaty with Yeltsin after the first Chechen War.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Chechnya was de facto sovereign by your standards, having signed a peace treaty with Yeltsin after the first Chechen War.
The Russians honored the peace agreement until Chechen's invaded Dagestan [wikipedia.org].
Yes, the response was over the top, but if the radicals kept well enough alone then then Russia might have not went back in.
I'll concede the whole Caucasus region has been politically messed up for the past 100 years so one could basically create arguments blaming the Geopolitiks of WWI (Germany, Ottaman Empire, Rus
Ossetia == Mini-Sudetenland. (Score:5, Insightful)
You just regurgitated the majority of well crafted Russian Propaganda that has surrounded this affair. Allow me to cut this Gordian Knot.
South Ossetia is South of the Caucasus Mountains [wikipedia.org] . Even the BBC seem to have gotten their heads out of there asses about this fact, and have finally shown a topographical map of the region [bbc.co.uk]. Surprise, surprise. It turns out that the only connection between "North Ossetia" and "South Ossetia" is a the Roki Tunnel [wikipedia.org] constructed in 1957. Yet we are all expected to believe that South Ossetia, has a long rich and deep cultural connection to their northern neighbours, and not with Georgia.
Look at the provence's profile [bbc.co.uk]. Most of it lies above 1000m. Total population ~70,000(There are 250,000 Russian's living in London [russianlondon.com]). Do you know what South Ossetia is? It's a mountain slope. I'm a firm believer in self determination, but wars of national liberation over a bushel of villages on a mountain crag is taking it too far. Comparisons to Kosovo are laughable. Kosovo has over 30 times the population and twice the land mass, with most of that actually being below 1000m.
Border populations like the South Ossetian's exist all over the world, and I'm not in favor of national lines being redrawn to accommodate a handful of malcontents. Oppressed populations perhaps, but there is exactly zero evidence of that. Zero. A war over any such region is totally and completely unjustified.
You want to know what South Ossetia really is? It's a mini Sudentenland [wikipedia.org]. Yeah, yeah, Godwin's Law, sue me. It's a good comparison. A very good comparison in fact. South Ossetia is an excuse, and excuse and nothing more, for Russia to put the smack down on Georgia and bring what it regards as a "near-abroad" [wikipedia.org] province back under its boot. And it's not even a very good excuse.
I've been saying the following for a while, with a new sentence getting added every few years or so. The Bear is up. He's out of Hibernation, and has taken a very long piss. He's licked his wounds. He's wolfed down a few morsels. He's been seen marking the trees around his old haunts. He's been heard growling and roaring, and seen pawing the ground. Here's my latest addition:
The Bear has just made his first big kill in a very long time.
The Bear is back, he is On-Form, and the everybody(especially younger types) had better start getting used to it!
Re:A local radio station was having fun (Score:5, Insightful)
It is, as the Georgian president has put it, an act of war.
Definitely, and it's completely at odds with arguments Russia had been making about the former-Yugoslavia situation, particularly the independence of Kosovo. They don't want provinces seceding from their mother country because that would legitimise Chechnya's attempts at independence, yet now they interfere when Georgia tries to stop a province from declaring its independence.
Ofcourse South Ossetia wants to join Russia, and Georgia has supported Chechnya (in words at least), so clearly different standards are in order here. On the other hand, I think Saakashvili overplayed his hand quite a bit, and was a fool for antagonising Russia. With a big and autocratic neighbour like that, an uncomfortable friendship works much better than outright hostility.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Russia SUPPORTED territorial integrity of Georgia until yesterday. That's why peacekeeping forces were there - to stop bloodshed between separatists and Georgians.
However, independence of Kosovo established a precedent. Probably that's why Georgia started this war.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Where'd you get your news from? Interfax? Russian peacekeeping forces were as much peacekeepers as the Chinese military in Tibet.
There was no support of territorial integrity whatsoever. Unless you call the de facto annexation of South Ossetia by the generic handing out of Russian passports to everybody "preservation of territorial integrity".
Nice try.
Re:A local radio station was having fun (Score:5, Insightful)
And if you'd have followed the story for a bit longer, you'd realize that this was a damn near inevitable outcome of Russia's approach to "protecting" South Ossetia from Georgia. I was always wondering when the war would start. I'm just surprised it happened so quickly.
If you think this is about anything other than Russia's power politics-driven goals, you're a fool.
you dont know zit about it (Score:3, Interesting)
then suddenly a few months ago these 'separatist' political group started wearing uniforms and acting like a militia. and then proceeded to break away.
naturally, as this is a region in the MIDDLE of georgia,
Redhat? (Score:5, Funny)
Black Hats and White Hats?
I think this is definitely a Red Hat problem.
Pay Attention (Offtopic) (Score:5, Insightful)
First of all, let's remember that the Georgians and the Russians have been provoking each other for years over this issue. They have both violated the ceasefire and it will probably be a while before we know who violated the ceasefire lines first.
You lament the invasion, and similarly George Bush stated, "Georgia is a sovereign nation, and its territorial integrity must be respected... We have urged an immediate halt to the violence and a stand-down by all troops. We call for the end of the Russian bombings." Mr Putin expressed similar reservations about Iraq in April 2003:
Be sure to watch the media over the next few days - you'll see pictures of dead and wounded, buildings destroyed, and many other realities of war. Now ask yourself why you don't see any of those images from Iraq. Ask why we saw silhouetted shots of helicopters and long views of nighttime explosions instead of what was really happening on the ground.
We can see on both sides that morality is of little importance. Unfortunately, since we have taken Iraq unilaterally, Russia is free to take Georgia unilaterally, and any other province they can get away with. All they have to do is claim that their national security is threatened, which is a more grounded claim. Georgia is on the Russian border, not thousands of miles away, and they are dealing with their own problems in Chechnya.
It is time to give real power to the UN and the ICC in order to avoid more death and destruction. Unless states submit themselves to a common rule of international law, there will never be a chance for peace.
Re:Pay Attention (Offtopic) (Score:5, Insightful)
Unless states submit themselves to a common rule of international law, there will never be a chance for peace.
And if the do, you suddenly have a chance to force your morality (drug war, no sex before you're 18, etc) or business model (overbearing "IP" crap) on the entire world, thru a group of rulers who have approximately no connection to reality (because reality is local and everywhere). And there still won't be peace.
Re: (Score:2)
There are two possible reasons: first, they may not be allowed close enough to the action to get shots of what's happening on the ground and second, those long shots of nighttime explosions make dramatic footage. Remember, like it or not, TV news is a form of entertainment, and they have to pick footage that will get the viewer's attention and keep them watching. It's
Re:Pay Attention (Offtopic) (Score:5, Funny)
"Unfortunately, since we have taken Iraq unilaterally, Russia is free to take Georgia unilaterally, and any other province they can get away with."
I knew it had to be Bush's fault, but I wasn't sure how.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Lol, oh that's awesome.
A friend of mine just got back from Ecuador, which has price ceilings on gas prices there. For some reason, none of the gas stations have any gas. Whose fault was it? George W. Bush's!
In fact, apparently every single problem in South America is the result of Bush's devious scheme to bring down his nemeses - those guys in those countries that... uh... what're their names again?
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
why is nobody mentioning that "Georgia", "North Ossetia", "South Ossetia", "Chechnia" were just administrative districts of Soviet Union, with as much ethnic/national relevance as Vermont has in US ? Then in 1991 Eltsin and his pals split Soviet Union between themselves, and how you have lots of 'sovereign nations' with no legitimacy but what they can acquire and hold by force of arms.
Nobody asked the civilians over whose heads the "Georgians" and "South Ossetians" are shooting at each other whether they wa
Re: (Score:2)
Reap/Sow (Score:5, Insightful)
Then that Korean fuckwit, with enough military power, can blow you up without asking first.
The UN arrives at international consensus all the time, with very reasonable compromises for both sides, that the populations of both sides often are in favor for. For instance, declaring the Middle East a nuclear free zone for everyone - Israel, the US, and Iran. This is supported by everyone, except the governments of US and Israel. The US doesn't join the International Criminal Court because their first subject may be Henry Kissinger, or even GW Bush. Thus you can't expect the current government elite to make any move that could endanger themselves or their friends.
If you don't believe in law, then fine, we can continue to be an outlaw state, burning and pillaging at our whim. But when you are on the receiving end of the bullet, try not to complain.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Why should anybody give an ineffectual organisation more power?
To make it less ineffectual?
What has the UN done since its inception to curb the tide of illegal and immoral wars?
Not a lot, but then again, it has little power to do so.
I agree completely that the UN isn't working the way it should be, but your arguments don't sound very logical. The problem is with the decision making process, the veto power of a handful of members, and the lack of power to actually do something once a decision has finally been made.
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There is a country named Georgia and then there is a state that is called Georgia and the latter want to act like a country but don't want to take on all the responsibility that comes with being one. (Oh and if the US state Georgia had become a country by it's own, it would have been a third world country)
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Georgia is a pawn - for what, us ordinary folks will only learn for sure, later on
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I must have been asleep during US History class, when did the Russians burn down the first time?
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woosh
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
War (Score:3, Insightful)
Analysis (Score:2)
http://tigerhawk.blogspot.com/2008/08/on-prowl-bear-moves-on-south-ossetia.html [blogspot.com]
This attack seems well-coordinated enough that it had to have been planned for some time. The claimed provocation of Georgia's incursion into South Ossetia -- a breakway province that is, after all, recognized as Georgian territory -- is probably just pretext.
So there is some oil pipeline, some warning to NATO, some indirect linkage to Middle Eastern policy...
Standard international policy gordian knot.
We should send Paris Hilton as an envoy. Because all that hotness would cool things considerably, no?
Re: (Score:2)
Well hang on now. Militaries create all kinds of plans all the time. Invasion plans, disruption plans, assassination plans. Against both friend and foe. They know that there's a >99% chance that none of them will ever be used, but when you do decide to go after somebody, you'd better have a plan ready.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives2/2008/08/021207.php [powerlineblog.com]
Forget the Olympics, forget goofball Edwards: this is important, lads.
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Linking to Pravda...now that's CERTAINLY an unbiased source.
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Why? Saakashvili is pretty much NATO's lapdog. He came to power amid a series of pretty much US-encouraged (if not orchestrated, but the money trail is obvious) "colored revolutions" in many of the Post-Soviet Republics. Everything Saakashvili has done as a president has destabilized the situation in the Caucasus.
What's so funny about an illegal war? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:What's so funny about an illegal war? (Score:5, Insightful)
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Yep. The parent is a typical clueless American.
South Osetia and Abkhazia were de-facto independent for 15 (fifteen) years - looong before Putin.
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No, it's everywhere on Russian blogs. We have some first-hand accounts from people in Osetia: http://scrolllock.livejournal.com/62364.html [livejournal.com]
Moreover, Saakhasvili himself declared that '1500 Osetinian bandints were destroyed'.
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Right out there with the Western oh-so-sanctimonious "outrage" at Serbs opposing the Kosovars declaring independence from Serbia. What's good for the goose...
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Who put the humor tag on this story? Where's the outrage against Russia's invasion of a sovereign country?
Well, there isn't any way to blame Bush/Cheney/Haliburton/Exxon/Israel/Hitler so no one cares.
No strong condemnation at the UN, no strong condemnation from the "progressive" European capitals either - they're too busy praising the Obamassiah.
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Savannah, Georgia
WOOSH...
you (somewhere far below and a little grumpy)
On a more serious note, yes it's horrible Russia is doing this and it could set a nasty precedent for them to do it elsewhere in the former Soviet States. If they get away with this, what would keep them from say, invading East Ukraine, which has a high population of Pro-Russian supporters? Sadly, I don't see any Western Countries comming to the aid of the opposing forces against Russia. No one out th
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that's most likely because even though the people in western europe know in their hearts the soviet empire fell apart it still registers as a soviet internal affair because that's been the situation for so long.
Imagine the USA imploding and texas declaring war on one of it's neighbouring states. There would not be much condemnation then either, it would be seen as one us state waging war on another, even though the larger entity no longer exists.
Re:What's so funny about an illegal war? (Score:5, Informative)
There's another thing to worry about as well. A major pipeline that delivers over 1% of the world's supply of oil (most of it bound for Western Europe) could be at risk. The pipeline flows from Azerbaijan (A major oil producer and non-OPEC nation), into Georgia and finally to the Black Sea. We need that pipeline to stay intact to keep the amount of oil we get from OPEC to stay at the level it is now. I'm sure Russia wouldnt mind "accidentally" destroying this or other oil related structures in Georgia. In fact they already have come close [ap.org].
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Russia doesn't want to damage it now. That's too easy. It wants CONTROL over it - to shut it off at politically convenient times, or to extract maximum cash from the dependent nations.
This war has nothing to do with Ossetia, and all to do with Russia wanting to become a world power through the use and abuse of energy distribution.
On a more serious note. (Score:3, Interesting)
On a more serious note, yes it's horrible (The United States) Russia is invading (Iraq) Georgia and it could set a nasty precedent for them to do it elsewhere in the (Middle East) former Soviet States. If they get away with this, what would keep them from say, invading (Iran) East Ukraine, which has a high population of (Pro-Islamic) Pro-Russian supporters? Sadly, I don't see any Western Countries comming to the aid of the opposing forces against (The United States) Russia. No one out there seems to want to
Re:What's so funny about an illegal war? (Score:5, Insightful)
Why should all of us be outraged at goings on in the Russian Empire?
Such outrage would be predicated on our individual relationship to the region, if we had a dog in that fight, which side that dog was on, and how much we cared about that dog vs. others.
I, for example, consider that the Ossetia mess will do useful damage to Russia and might wake up a few Europeans to the reality that the Russian is still their historic enemy.
I'm not "outraged" because I figure the Georgian leadership rolled the dice and should have expected a possible negative outcome. (Next time, collapse the Roki tunnel!) I am interested.
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Uhm...
Maybe because Georgian president calls Bush his best friend?
Maybe because Georgia right now fights with America-supplied weapons with army trained by American instructors?
Re:What's so funny about an illegal war? (Score:5, Insightful)
What's so funny about an illegal war?
Where can I find a legal one?
Who put the humor tag on this story?
Probably someone who likes word games, or thinks it's funny when AIs get tripped up by ambiguous terms.
Where's the outrage against Russia's invasion of a sovereign country?
Without knowing the background, how do we know that outrage would be appropriate? Now, "oh crap, I hope it doesn't spread" might be appropriate...
Re:What's so funny about an illegal war? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Next stop, complaining about the funny tag on Darwin Awards stories.
Well, you may be not aware of this (Score:4, Informative)
But Georgia was under Russian rule for well over 200 years. Then it was broken off by separatists and declared itself a separate country. It's kind of like separatists come to power in Texas and declare it a separate country - you wouldn't like it. There were people in Ossetia who didn't like it - after all, Georgia has about as much of a right to Ossetia as Russia, so Ossetians FOUGHT for independence from Georgia FOR YEARS, with a lot of lives lost. They even called that particular war a "patriotic" one. They are not Georgians, most of them speak Russian only and are Russian citizens, why the fuck should they just roll over and spread their butt cheeks to Georgians?
The sequence of events was like this: Georgia flattens a sleeping city, killing a bunch of Russian citizens among everybody else. Russia goes to the UN and asks to intervene. The UN gives it a middle finger. Russia says "fuck it, we'll pwn them then" and proceeds with pwning Georgia on its own.
Finally, there's no "invasion" of Georgia going on. There's bombing of the military bases (watch your tax dollars go up in smoke, US citizens!), to be sure, but there are no troops on the ground. If Russia wanted to, Tbilisi would already be in ruins. But it won't happen, because there are a TON of Russians living in Georgia too.
How THE FUCK is this "Russian aggression" I keep reading about in US media?
google (Score:4, Funny)
so... ummm... russian army works for google?
Instead of "Gloucester Island"... (Score:2)
Think "King's Bay."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Russians_Are_Coming,_the_Russians_Are_Coming [wikipedia.org]
If you haven't seen it, give it a shot.
Anyone at the pentagon use google news? (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
I'm more worried about George Bush seeing this than the Pentagon.
Re:Anyone at the pentagon use google news? (Score:5, Informative)
That may actually be a more insightful comment than you know. Georgia has been making progress towards NATO membership, and under article 5 of the NATO treaty this attack by Russia would have to be responded by all of NATO.
Editorializing in summary? (Score:5, Insightful)
Caucasian-pride-ridden state in the southern U.S
I am actually quite amazed that /. would put such an inflamatory phrase like that into a summary. By using the word "ridden" are you implying that being proud of your race is a bad trait? I do believe that while we are at the olympics, many people are 'proud' of their country, heritage or race. However, in light of the olympics, this is a positive thing as we cheer in the name of sport and friendly competition. The usage in the summary, gives the impression that all Georgian's are Klansman. One should note that Georgia has a higher percentage of African Americans (29%) than the US average http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/13000.html [census.gov], and I'm sure they are proud of being from Georgia.
Why not describe other countries that are predominantly Caucasian such as Sweden, or Ireland in the same manner?
Other uses that you should try:
Arab-pride-ridden (Iraq)
Jewish-price-ridden (Israel)
Linux-pride-ridden (./)
Re:Editorializing in summary? (Score:4, Funny)
Haha, I've heard all the stereotype jokes before, but is that a typo or a Freudian Slip?
Re:Editorializing in summary? (Score:5, Informative)
You also may have missed that it was intended mostly as a play on words.
...the nation-state in the Caucasus, not the Caucasian-pride-ridden state...
Get it? Caucasus, caucasian? Nothing?
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
By using the word "ridden" are you implying that being proud of your race is a bad trait?
Yes.
It's the height of stupidity to be proud of something which (1) you had nothing to do with and cannot change and (2) which is only relevant to bigots and racists and an irrelevant detail to everyone else--it has absolutely no practical relevance. It's like having pride in your eye color. You should be ridiculed for holding such a position.
So patriotism (there go the Olympics), the aspect of female emancipation that insists that women should be proud to be women etc. are all right out? Is gay pride still OK or are you in the camp of people who theorise that you can't help being a homosexual, because if you are, draw your conclusions.
What's left of a person's self respect? Sorry pal, I respect your opinion, but I'm afraid most people on this planet disagree with you.
poor russians (Score:2)
i don't know where they would be in less danger after dark, downtown Savannah or Effingham
Re:poor russians (Score:5, Funny)
I always wanted to start a burger chain in Effingham country called "Effingham Burgers." You can get an Effingham Burger, or an Effingham Sandwich.
The come with effing fries.
Re:poor russians (Score:4, Funny)
Should I tell you about the Vietnamese noodle (pho) restaurant near me named Pho King?
"Where's our Pho King food?"
"It's right here. Here's your Pho King meal."
(the t-shirts say "It's Pho King Delicious", so it isn't accidental)
Red Dawn (Score:3, Insightful)
Why assume Jessica B was in Georgia, USA? (Score:4, Informative)
Caucasian pride Georgia? (Score:2)
thanks to the Google Maps graphic accompanying a story about Russian incursions into Georgia â" the nation-state in the Caucasus, not the Caucasian-pride-ridden state in the southern U.S
I take it you've never been to Atlanta!
Dear theodp: You're a bigot. (Score:5, Insightful)
You sir, do not have a clue.
I have lived in Georgia for 14 eyars, having previously spent time in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. I can tell you that both northern states are by far-and-away more racist than Georgia. In 14 years, not once (NOT ONCE -- for emphasis) have I heard a white person use the N-word, while in both Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, I witnessed not only frequent use of the word, but also blind, entrenched bigotry. Never have I seen whites and minorities live more harmoniously that in Georgia (the ghettoization of minorities in northern cities is NOT "harmony").
While there are white supremacists in Georgia (whom I have never met), I think it's safe to say they are a complete minority. Meanwhile, your own bigotry is available for all to see in the summary.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
I agree with you 100%. I grew up in Massachusetts and lived in California for 8 years and recently moved to Texas. The most amazing about Texas is the racial integration that I never saw in states I previously lived. The South in general gets a bad rap when in actuality many northerner are far more racist.
Re:Dear theodp: You're a bigot. (Score:5, Informative)
Never have I seen whites and minorities live more harmoniously that in Georgia (the ghettoization of minorities in northern cities is NOT "harmony").
Wow... Maybe you were in Atlanta or something. I attended high school in the aforementioned Effingham County in the mid-1990s, after moving there from southern California. The racism in that area astounded me. I was shocked and disgusted during my entire time there. There was "harmony" in that black people everywhere exhibited a constant air of fear and overt politeness. There was nearly zero social crossover between populations. The bloody high school even had officially separate Black and White prom queen and king elections, I shit you not. People wrote essays about the "War of Northern Agression" for class projects, etc... The high school mascot was a confederate soldier... My dad found KKK meeting announcements on break-room bulletin boards at his job in Savannah. I am not making any of this up. People joke about it, but it's because of the ring of truth to it. It's seriously messed up, and I doubt it has improved significantly over the last decade.
Russians are killing civilians like crazy (Score:2)
Ahah! I knew it! (Score:2)
The USSR wasn't dead, it was all a trick by Putin!
They lured the USA into a false sense of security by faking their economy being in ruins and the overthrow of their Communist government by a Democratic one.
Joseph Stalin and Vladimir Lenin weren't even dead, they were in suspended animation via mummification and their mummies just got raised from the dead by Brendan Fraser as he activated an old USSR artifact that started to pump plasma back into their mummified corpses (ala Dr. Phibes) and pump out the emb
So..... (Score:4, Insightful)
"Caucasian-pride-ridden state in the southern U.S."
-----So, Black Pride, Latino Pride, and Asian Pride are O.K., but Caucasian Pride is not?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
The image database is often seperate from the articles and the company hosting the article often adds an image to emphasise.
I remember this exact thing happening with a Yahoo article a while ago. Can't remember a thing about it unfortunatly, all I remember is the story was about something in the U.S., and the image was of a U.K. footballer and the link was in the player's last name.
Re: (Score:2)
Are we sure this isn't yet another case of another clueless journalist not doing a damn bit of research, just going to Google Maps and typing Georgia? Guess what comes up when you do that? Yep, good 'ol Georgia, USA.
Yes. It's also a case of another clueless Anonymous Coward posting without following the links.
Pages whose URL begins "http://afp.google.com/" are hosted on Google's servers, built by Google from the Agence France-Presse NewsML feed.
Google adds its own maps.
Proper locative tagging should make this impossible.
NITF, which is the text markup standard assumed by NewsML, supports ISO country codes in location tags, but AFP may not have used them. I don't know; I don't have access to an AFP feed. It's common for